The much needed connecting bridge river island on the Varahi, Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd. (KNNL) is building a road bridge connecting the southern part of the island with panchayat headquarters Basruru in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district. The island, with about 300 households, has a population of around 2,500 and the residents had to take a detour of about 14 km via Kundapur or use boats to reach Basruru. Launched on December 27, 2019, the work was expected to be completed in 12 months, but it got delayed following COVID-19, engineers said. More than 50% of the work on the bridge has been completed from the Basruru side, while the remaining work towards Hattikudru was going on. Pedestrians crossed the Varahi branch using a coffer bund and the bridge that is under construction. Hitherto, Konkan Railway’s bridge on Mangalore-Mumbai line provided pedestrian passage to Basruru and Kundapur.